Evidence shows that current lockdown restrictions are starting to lower infection rates but the country is still a ‘long, long, long’ way off easing measures, said the health secretary.
When pressed why current restrictions in place are not as strict as those implemented during the nation’s first lockdown, despite the emergence of new, highly transmissible variants, Matt Hancock said he was ‘confident’ about the rules.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: ‘Well there is early evidence that the lockdown is starting to bring cases down but we’re a long, long, long way from being low enough because the case rate was incredibly high.
‘And you can see the pressure on the NHS. You can see it every day – the NHS are doing an amazing job in incredibly difficult circumstances.
‘So, I’m confident about the measures we’ve got in place now. What really matters is that everyone follows them.
‘Not just because the date toll each day, which is far too high, but also because of the pressure on the NHS – including from people who thankfully come out of hospital alive – is enormous and that has knock-on consequences for people who suffer from all other illnesses.’
In further updates, Mr Hancock said three-quarters of all over-80s in the UK have now had their first dose of the vaccine.
The health secretary admitted he would like to have ‘more information’ on the new variants – in particular those that were first identified in Brazil and South Africa and said scientists were ‘working’ on this.
When asked how worried the public should be about the Covid strains, he said the Kent one has been estimated to be at least 10% more deadly but experts are still ‘not exactly certain’. He pointed to one study which suggested it could be up to 50% more fatal but said there ‘are uncertainties’.
The government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) earlier concluded the UK variant may increase the death rate by between 30% and 40%.
Mr Hancock added: ‘But in a way, for all of us, that doesn’t matter. What matters is we’ve got to get this virus under control and the only way you do that is by stopping the social contact and following the rules.’
He continued: ‘We should be worried enough, all of us, about this pandemic to follow the rules and it is just so important that people do.
‘This morning I’ve come out of my formal self-isolation, I haven’t actually left the house yet because I haven’t needed to.’
This is a breaking news story, more to follow…